Timothy Peter Johnson (December 28, 1946 – October 8, 2024) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from South Dakota from 1997 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the United States representative for South Dakota's at-large congressional district from 1987 to 1997 and in the South Dakota Legislature from 1979 to 1987. Johnson is the last Democrat to hold statewide and/or congressional office in South Dakota. He and Stephanie Herseth Sandlin are also the last Democrats to win a statewide election in South Dakota.
Johnson was born in Canton, South Dakota, the son of Ruth Jorinda (née Ljostveit), a homemaker, and Vandel Charles Johnson, an educator. He had Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish ancestry. Raised in Vermillion, Johnson earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1969 and a Master of Arts in 1970, both in political science, from the University of South Dakota, where he was a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity.
After doing post-graduate studies at Michigan State University from 1970 to 1971, a period during which he worked for the Michigan Senate, Johnson returned to Vermillion to attend the University of South Dakota School of Law and earned his Juris Doctor in 1975; he went into private practice immediately thereafter. He did not take the bar exam, as he was admitted to the South Dakota bar under the state's diploma privilege.
Johnson served in the South Dakota House of Representatives from 1979 to 1982 and in the South Dakota Senate from 1983 to 1986. He served as Clay County deputy state's attorney in 1985 during his tenure in the South Dakota Senate.
U.S. House of Representatives (1987–1997)
Johnson was elected in 1986 to represent South Dakota as the at-large member of the United States House of Representatives, succeeding Tom Daschle, who had left the House upon his election to the U.S. Senate. Johnson was reelected in 1988, 1990, 1992, and 1994. Between 1991 and 1994, he served as a regional whip for the Democratic Party. He left the House in 1997, when his Senate tenure began.
During his first term, Johnson introduced more legislation than any other freshman member of the House.
Johnson authored the Mni Wiconi Project Act of 1988, which authorized construction of a water project serving an area of southwestern South Dakota that included the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, an area that had long suffered low water supplies and poor water quality. In subsequent years, Johnson authored and enacted legislation to expand the Mni Wiconi Rural Water Project service area.
Johnson's Mid Dakota Rural Water System Act of 1991 was enacted, and the project was completed in 2006 and serves more than 30,000 residents of east-central South Dakota.
Johnson first authored legislation requiring country-of-origin labeling for meat and other agricultural products in 1992. He continued the effort through his Senate tenure until the requirement was enacted in 2002 as part of the Farm Bill reauthorization.
Committee on Public Works and Transportation (renamed Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, 1995)
Johnson narrowly defeated three-term Senator Larry Pressler in the 1996 U.S. Senate election. This made him the only Senate candidate that year to defeat an incumbent in a general election, during a year that saw 13 open seats.
In 2002, Johnson was reelected by 524 votes over John Thune, who had succeeded him in South Dakota's at-large congressional district. The race was widely seen as a proxy battle between George W. Bush, who won South Dakota comfortably in 2000, and Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. Johnson won 94% of the vote among the Oglala.
Johnson sought reelection in 2008 after recovering from a serious health condition. Early polls showed him likely to defeat Republican nominee Joel Dykstra, and he did, with 62.5% of the vote. In January 2008, Johnson endorsed Barack Obama for president in the Democratic primary.
Johnson did not seek reelection in 2014.
Johnson's Senate career began in January 1997. In the Senate, he continued to focus on water infrastructure, supporting projects that delivered clean drinking water to communities in South Dakota and surrounding states.
The Fall River Rural Water Users District Rural Water System Act of 1998 authorized the Bureau of Reclamation to construct a rural water system in Fall River County of South Dakota. After years of drought, residents in the southeastern area of that county had been left without a suitable water supply, and many either hauled water or used bottled water because of poor water quality.
The Lewis and Clark Rural Water System Act of 1999 authorized construction of a water delivery system spanning a broad area of southeastern South Dakota, northwestern Iowa, and southwestern Minnesota. The system joined 22 rural water systems and communities. The project was intended to bring clean, safe drinking water to 180,000 people in the Lewis and Clark service region. The Perkins County Rural Water System Act authorized the Bureau of Reclamation to construct a rural water system in Perkins County.